You must log in to access your account.
April 21st, 2010 in Share by Jeanne Yocum
Hey, everyone, I just started a new blog called “Small Business Success: 20 Years & Counting.” I realized I have a lot of good information to share based on over 20 years of working with great clients and colleagues, including some who are considered thought leaders in their fields. Check it out at http://www.yourghostwriter.com/blog and let me know what you think. Comments very, very welcome.
February 15th, 2010 in Business by Jeanne Yocum
So you’ve done what every successful business needs to do and developed a great strategic plan. Now it’s time to make that plan happen. Where do you start? With great internal communication directly from you, the leader. Everyone in your organization needs to understand your strategic plan and his/her role in making it a reality. And the person they most want to hear this information from is you, the leader.
Two of my clients, David Frances of EAP Systems, in Woburn, MA, and Mitch Bornstein of Wellesley Consulting, in Wellesley, MA, are experts in helping leaders improve their leadership communication skills. According to Dave and Mitch, two key benefits of having consistent communication about strategic direction come directly from the leader to all organizational levels are:
• Your goals and strategies are embraced. People highly value hearing what you are thinking, without getting the message through several layers of intermediaries, off a sheet of paper, or from a computer screen.
• People give their best to a leader who takes the time to communicate directly with them. You don’t need charisma. Just being there, in front of people, speaking openly and honestly, with enthusiasm, about the direction you want to take the company with their help has a huge and immediate positive impact. Interacting with people directly tells them you care enough about them to make the effort.
Mitch and Dave also point out that with face-to-face communication that provides for a two-way exchange of ideas and information, you learn a lot that will help you strengthen your chances of making your strategic plan succeed. For instance, you will:
• Find out what is going on inside your organization. If you’re frequently surprised by the lack of progress toward key goals, you probably don’t have your finger on the pulse of your organization. The best and simplest way to learn what’s really happening out there—and why–is to just go out there and talk to people. You can do all the employee surveys you want and spend hours trying to interpret exactly what the answers mean. Or you can regularly devote an hour here and there to talking with people. You’ll be amazed at how much you’ll learn about why things are working (or not working).
• Understand more about what’s going on outside your organization that’s impacting your business. As Intel CEO Andy Grove explained in Only the Paranoid Survive, senior managers are often the last to sense what he calls Strategic Inflection Points. These are unexpected and rapid business shifts that can dramatically change a company’s operating climate. As he puts it, “People in the trenches are usually in touch with impending changes early. Salespeople understand shifting customer demands before management does; financial analysts are the earliest to know when the fundamentals of a business change.” The more time you spend talking to people who work on the periphery of the business—those who are actually dealing with customers, vendors, and even competitors—the more you’ll know about the outside influences that are poised to cause you problems.
• Build a cohesive team. Who do you think has a better chance of turning their entire organizations into unified, motivated teams: Leaders who rarely interact with anyone but the people who report directly to them or leaders who frequently go throughout the organization, engaging informally with others, communicating the goals and strategies, and asking for feedback and new ideas?
If you want people to feel part of your team and to be committed to your strategic direction, you need to show them that you too are part of that team and that you are passionate about where you want to take the company. The most effective way to do this is with frequent face-to-face communication.
(Contact information on article sources: David Frances, EAP Systems, dfrances@aol.com; Mitch Bornstein, Wellesley Consulting, mbornstein@wellesleyconsulting.com)
January 5th, 2010 in Go Green, Recycling, Share by Jeanne Yocum
Over the long holiday weekend, I was determined to clean my office so I could start 2010 out with a fresh workspace. I was dusting the bookcase (a beautiful cherry Mission-style piece my brother made for me) and as I started to pull out books to clean them, one of the items I came across was a full box of fancy stationery; it was left over from a client project of years ago and had been sitting in my office ever since I moved to Granby 7 years ago. I was about to put this into the recycle pile when I realized that perhaps someone else could use it. It was expensive paper that had probably originally cost about $20/box so I hated to just toss it, even if it would get recycled.
I quickly posted a notice about the paper on Freecycle.org, where people and nonprofits offer and receive free items for reuse or recycling and thereby keep things out of the landfill. Within an hour I had four people say they could use the paper. One was a woman who lives about two miles from my house in Granby, who wanted the paper for her girls who are involved in origami. My housemate dropped off the paper at her house on his way to the dog park next door to her house.
I felt great! Not only was there new space on my bookshelf but two little girls were going to have some fun with the paper!
I’m sure many of you have heard of Freecycle but if you haven’t tried it yet, I strongly urge you to join and participate in this global green effort. I belong to the Amherst branch and I know there are also groups in Northampton and Springfield. There may be others in the region too.
I’ve given away a number of still useful items through Freecycle that otherwise would be gathering dust in my basement or would have eventually ended up at the landfill. A young family is now using my aunt’s china that I inherited but didn’t particularly care for or have a real use for. They sent me a photo of them using it for Thanksgiving the year I gave it to them!
An TV set that we had replaced with a bigger/better model is now being used in another home in Granby. A couple bamboo bar stools that I couldn’t find a place for when I moved to Granby are now in a home in Belchertown, being used by a young single mom who was struggling to furnish her home. And several smaller items have also found good homes.
I’ve never obtained an item through Freecycle but the variety of items that people make available is astonishing. And it’s SO simple to do. Check it out at freecycle.org. It’s good for the environment and it feels great!
November 20th, 2009 in Business, Share by Jeanne Yocum
Bad news can hit even the best of companies. Natural disasters, for example, can happen to any organization. Good communication with internal and external audiences during a crisis is crucial to maintaining your company’s most hard-earned asset—its good name.
Steps to Plan for the Unpredictable
• Be prepared. Having a crisis communication plan before it’s needed promotes proactive communication with positive results. In the time it takes you to pull together a last-minute plan, erroneous information can filter into the workplace and into the media.
• Develop accurate messages and communicate them effectively to all audiences. During a crisis, employees must be updated regularly to prevent the spread of inaccurate information. Externally, the media and those assisting in mitigating the crisis (e.g., fire, police and emergency personnel) must be informed of relevant facts. In the case of corporate error, own up immediately to the facts, as you know them. It’s better to be perceived as taking responsibility for a mistake than as trying to cover it up.
• Keep written records. Keeping records is useful as events unfold and after the crisis has concluded so you can evaluate how your crisis communications plan worked and revise as needed. An accurate, factual written record can be especially helpful if litigation arises.
The Team Approach
The cornerstone of a good crisis communication plan is the crisis communication team (CCT). This group is the information clearinghouse. During a crisis, all external inquiries must be directed to the CCT. The CCT should have representatives from the key disciplines that might be affected, but must be small enough to for rapid decision making and action.
The CCT should develop a list of possible crises that might affect your business and the concerns each would raise. Based on this, the team can develop internal and external crisis communication tools in advance. These will vary from business to business, but certain elements are fundamental:
• Phone trees. The appropriate emergency numbers for various types of crises should be included, along with the members of the CCT, who should have beepers to allow for 24-hour access.
• Crisis fact sheets and crisis casualty sheets. These internal tools are fast ways to keep track of the “what, where, who, when and why” of a crisis and to quantify the magnitude of a crisis in standard terms.
• Media kits. Having pre-prepared background material can speed your media response and help ameliorate the “bad news” focus by including positive information about your company. Kits should include a fact sheet on the company’s history and products and/or services and a skeleton press release that can be quickly tailored for any crisis. Keep copies of this material off-site.
• Media contacts. Prepare a list of phone and fax numbers for the major media, along with deadline information.
October 28th, 2009 in Business, Marketing, Share by Jeanne Yocum
For those of us who are posting here, I thought this article, “100 Ways to Find Ideas for Your Blog Posts” by Steve Aitchison would be of interest. Great ideas!
http://lifesnips.com/blogging/345/100-ways-to-find-ideas-for-your-blog-posts/
October 16th, 2009 in Business, Share by Jeanne Yocum
While at times it can seem more like a curse than a blessing, e-mail is an essential business communications tool. Lacking the body language, facial expressions, and voice tone that typically help us figure each other out when we’re talking face to face, e-mail, while useful, is not without hazards. Meanings can, and often are, misinterpreted. Wrong or confusing data may be conveyed when messages are carelessly composed. Sloppy grammar and spelling, including all upper or lower case, creates bad impressions. And information intended only for the recipient gets forwarded to others, embarrassing the original sender.
Such problems can be heightened in virtual teams where members have little or no “real-life” contact. For example, if you haven’t witnessed Bill’s devilish sense of humor in face-to-face meetings, you may take something he says via e-mail seriously when it was meant in jest.
Potential e-mail gaffes can be avoided by following these suggestions:
Take It Seriously. Many people operate under the mistaken belief that grammar and style aren’t important in e-mail. But poor grammar and heaps of typos send a bad impression about your professionalism. Perhaps even worse, sloppiness may tell the recipient that you don’t care enough to take the time to do it right. Also, a carelessly written e-mail often leads to needless back and forth exchanges as the recipient tries to determine what exactly you meant to say in the first place.
While brevity is important in e-mails, clarity is critical. Don’t just dash off thoughts off the top of your head and hit send. Make sure you’ve said exactly what you mean to say and that you’ve done it in a style that shows your professionalism and your respect for the recipient.
Take Time for Niceties. Establishing business relationships with people you may never meet in person is a challenge. You’ll do better in this regard if you take time in your e-mails to be polite and pleasant. Instead of just saying “Hi,” use the recipient’s name in your greeting. End with a kind word. For example, if it’s Friday, wish the person a happy or relaxing weekend.
These little things are not a waste of time, especially if you are part of a virtual team or if you’re communicating with clients or customers. In situations where you’re working face to face with people, you would probably never pass someone in the hallway without saying “Hi” or “How are you?” Even though the only place you’re “passing by” each other is in cyberspace, carrying on these conventions of polite intercourse is still important to forming and maintaining good relationships.
Avoid Emotional Outbursts. No doubt you have every right to be upset with a co-worker whose mistake is going to double your workload or cost the company money. But dashing off an e-mail in which you convey your anger is never advisable. Not only can such a message immediately damage team dynamics, it can also come back to haunt you later. Always take time to cool down and respond thoughtfully, so you never have to worry that an angry outburst may be forwarded to others or saved in print form to be used against you at some future time.
Be Discrete. I tell my public relations clients never to say anything to a reporter that they wouldn’t want to see on the front page of the newspaper the following day. The same can be said of e-mail. Never convey information in an e-mail that you wouldn’t want to tell your whole organization–or the outside world.
Disaster stories abound of the bad things that have happened to individuals or to companies when someone hit the forward key, either with malice or without thinking of the potential harm that could result. Discretion is crucial in all aspects of business but never more so than when you’re composing an e-mail.
Following these simple guidelines will benefit the entire organization. You will prevent e-mail hazards and help to create a positive work environment.
October 8th, 2009 in Business, Marketing, Share by Jeanne Yocum
I’m presenting a workshop entitled “Get the Media to Tell Your Business Story” for the Hilltown CDC next Wednesday evening, October 14. Here’s a write-up on it:
Publicity is one of the most effective marketing tools available to any business owner. Getting your company and its products or services covered in a news story in print or broadcast media provides tremendous visibility and credibility, and it can be done for virtually no cost. In this workshop, Jeanne Yocum, a PR veteran with 30 years’ experience, will explain how you can interest the media in covering your story. Examples of tools you can use to generate media coverage will be provided along with tips on how to be a star in media interviews.
For details, visit http://www.hilltowncdc.org/programs/edworkshops.html.
October 1st, 2009 in Business, Marketing, New Products, Share by Jeanne Yocum
Few business activities are as exciting—or perilous—as launching a new product or service. Over the years, research has consistently revealed alarmingly high failure rates for new products. Compounding the challenge, the number of new products being launched each year has skyrocketed since 2000, making it even harder to get attention for your new pride and joy.
Yet with high risk comes the potential for high reward. So if you’ve “built a better mousetrap” that you plan to introduce soon, make sure you do the best job possible in planning and executing your launch. Below are five classic mistakes that companies make when developing new product launch plans. Avoiding these pitfalls will increase your odds of success.
Mistake #1: Don’t plan the launch until right before the release date. Nothing is more disheartening to a PR consultant than to have a client call and say, “We have a great new product ready to launch next month. Can you come up with a plan by next week?” Sadly, this happens all too often. Companies spend months – even years – developing a new product only to think about the launch plan at the last minute.
In a market where literally tens of thousands of new products are demanding attention, you need a truly outstanding launch strategy. That’s not something you can create overnight so start your launch campaign planning as early as possible.
Mistake #2: Carve your launch plan in stone. Few new product introductions go exactly according to plan. Manufacturing snafus occur. Distribution gets delayed. Be sure to build flexibility into your launch plan. Keep the launch team in daily communication with the people who are actually getting the product out the door so that the launch campaign calendar can stay in synch with the actual availability of the product. For instance, there is no use wasting your advertising dollars touting a product that won’t be on the shelves for another month due to production delays.
Mistake #3: Don’t educate employees about the product and the launch campaign until after the news breaks elsewhere. Your employees are your most important word-of-mouth ambassadors. Get them on board with the launch plan and ready to talk about the product with everyone they meet before the news goes public in the trade, business or consumer press.
Mistake #4: Use the same forms of media you’ve always used. Don’t just dig out the media list your cousin used for your last launch. Get up-to-the-minute information on each media outlet to make sure they’re communicating with your target audience. Don’t overlook Internet media outlets that might not have existed when you did your last launch. And don’t overlook social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter; they can help you spread your new product news ultra-fast.
Mistake #5: Skip the crisis plan. The number of things that can go wrong when a new product hits the market is limitless. Brainstorm the possibilities and then make sure that your existing crisis plan covers them or, if it doesn’t, develop a launch crisis plan.
Make your next new product launch a success. Plan well, execute with great care and be ready for the unexpected!
September 22nd, 2009 in Green Buying, New Services by Jeanne Yocum
I saw author Daniel Goleman (a Valley resident) on BookTV this weekend talking about his latest book, “Ecological Intelligence.” He talked about a new Web site called goodguide.com that is now available in beta form. It’s a guide to help us find safe, healthy and green products.
According to the site, GoodGuide provides the world’s largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental, and social impacts of the products in your home. You can learn the ecological impacts of what you buy by searching or browsing the 70,000-plus food, toys, personal care and household products that are in their data base so far.
Products are given an overall rating on a one to 10 scale and you can filter in various ways to identify those issues that matter most to you. For example, you can filter the list of juices to find the ones that are low in sugar, low in sodium, low in cholesterol, low in saturated fat and low in environmental impact. The products are also rated based on all of these issues.
Obviously, with the site being only in beta, not every product is listed but still it’s a great start to a site that may prove to be highly useful to those of us who care about the environmental impact of the products we buy.
September 17th, 2009 in Business, Go Green, New Products, Share by Jeanne Yocum
Back in 2001, I coauthored a book on innovation with Mark Sebell, head of Creative Realities, an innovation consulting firm in Andover, MA (www.creativerealities.com). With so many companies looking to innovate in the environmental market space, I thought it might be time to dust off some key learnings from that book. Here goes:
Innovation is the lifeblood of business growth, but misconceptions abound about the true nature of innovation. Replacing these myths with an understanding of how innovation actually works is essential to establishing your ability to turn new ideas into realities.
Myth #1: “An innovation is something that can be purchased.”
New products and new services have always been one of the most visible ways for companies to innovate. But they are not the only means by which you can compete. Important innovations can succeed in many other forums, including some that consumers may never actually see. Potential areas for innovation include:
• Manufacturing cost reductions • Customer service improvements
• Warehousing and distribution efficiencies • New forms of packaging
• Creative marketing and promotion practices
As the lead-time needed to duplicate the innovations of others continues to shorten, new products will not be the competitive pre-emptor they once were. And, as the world demands more standardization in its technological innovations, the value of technology as a long-term differentiator will diminish. Companies that master innovation in all aspects of their operations will be the leaders in such a world.
Myth #2: “All we need are some good, new ideas.”
Creative ideas are meaningless without implementation. Unimplemented ideas quickly vaporize. Too often, creativity is seen as the beginning and end of innovation, a misconception that impedes innovation from the very outset.
Many innovative market leaders are no more creative than their competitors. What they know is that coming up with good new ideas still leaves you miles away from achieving innovation. Such leaders have mastered the critical part of innovation – the skills needed to steer fragile ideas through implementation barriers.
Myth #3: “I’ll recognize the breakthrough idea when I first see it.”
It is extremely rare that a breakthrough new idea is recognized for its brilliance when first uttered. This is because most people evaluate ideas at a fixed point in time, usually when we first hear them. It is only with the benefit of hindsight that we come to realize that an idea that originally was labeled stupid was, in fact, brilliant.
This mistaken belief that you will instantly recognize a brilliant idea is extremely damaging to an innovation effort because new ideas almost always arrive with flaws. Given the risk-averse mindset that thrives in many businesses, beginning ideas with brilliant potential are routinely ignored because their inherent value is not immediately evident.
Myth #4: “To be innovative, we need a clearly defined, repeatable process.”
There is no single roadmap for innovation. Corporations have spent billions of dollars in a fruitless effort to map what poet William Blake called, “the crooked road…of genius.” This search for an ordered, logical set of steps and procedures that will lead anyone and everyone to innovation overlooks the inherent messiness of innovation. Innovation efforts do, however, benefit from a flexible process approach that allows you to negotiate the twists and turns on the innovation highway.
Myth#5: “We just implemented a great new idea; we can rest now.”
It is critical to understand that innovation is continuous. You cannot say, “Okay, we’ve innovated; now we can sit back and watch profits grow.” If you take this approach, someone will come along and start grabbing your market share before you have the time to re-start your innovation engine.
Today’s marketplace is dynamic and constantly changing. To respond – indeed, to stay in business – you must foster a culture that understands how innovation really works and accepts the need for continual change.
(The book these ideas and much, MUCH more about how to achieve innovation are contained is entitled “Ban the Humorous Bazooka and Avoid Other Speed Bumps and Roadblocks on the Innovation Highway.” It’s out of print now but used copies are available on Amazon.com.)
